Will You Love Me? : The Golden Years

Chapter 27

"Hey, kiddos!" You called when you heard the front door close. All four kids came into the kitchen, where you were looking over some papers for the new movie you and Ben were producing. "So, how was your first day back?" You asked, giving them your full attention. 

Conner ran up to you as he said, "It was so fun! My new teacher, Missus Brady, is super nice and let us have chocolate!" You gasped and said, "She sounds so cool! What about you, Scar?" She simply shrugged and said, "Boring. All my classmates are dumb. They don't know how to multiply." 

"What did we talk about last school year?" You asked. "You do not call your classmates 'dumb'. Understand?" Scar only rolled her eyes, then left the room. You and Ben need to have a serious talk with her. "Em, Nate what about you?"

Both of them gave a small shrug, but didn't say anything. Ever since finding out about Ben's affair, they've been in awful moods. They insisted they didn't want to talk about it, so you and Ben let them be. You're starting to think that's not such a good idea anymore. 

"Where's dad?" Conner asked. "He is in Scotland," you told him. "He's doing some location scouting with Uncle Adam. He'll be back tomorrow. In the meantime, why don't you go get some homework done and I'll get started on dinner. Okay?" 

While Conner practically skipped to his room, you softly said to Em and Nate, "We need to talk. Go put your stuff away and come back down here." Their faces told you that they knew where this was headed. 

When they came back down a few minutes later, you had them sit at the table. "Look, guys...I know you're upset at your father and you have every right to be. We both made the mistake of keeping this from you guys, but we just didn't know how or when to tell you. Your dad feels awful that you found out the way you did."

Nate lightly scoffed and shook his head. "It's not about that," he told you. "It's about...it's about the fact that dad has always been our hero. We've seen him as this great guy, but then we find out that he cheated on you and it's like...it's like it's all been a lie, like he was just acting the entire time."

"He hurt you," Em added. You smirked a bit and told them, "Yes. Yes, he did. He's hurt you now, too and he understands it's going to take some time for you guys to forgive him. Honestly...I still don't forgive him. I still hate him for it. Yes, it was just a kiss, but that doesn't make it anymore okay."

"So, why did you stay?" Nate asked. "Because of us?" You shook your head as you told him, "No, not entirely. I didn't want to break up the family of course, but your dad and I, we have a story. It's not the perfect story, but nothing is. Did you know we had only been dating for weeks when I got pregnant with you two? I thought he was going to run off, but he stayed. Actually, he proposed to me the night I told him, but I turned him down."

The twins seemed completely enamored with your story. You continued, "He's been there through everything. He's put up with so much. Everything, all the good he's done, it outweighs the bad, even something like this. He's still a great man and, hell, he's even my hero. Always will be. I wish I could tell you to not see him differently, but I know you are. That's okay. Just, promise me, you won't hold this against him. Please."

The kids sighed, but reluctantly nodded. "Good," you said, "now, go get your homework done. I'm going to order pizza." They got up and slowly went upstairs, whispering things to each other. With an exasperated sigh, you got out the pizza menu and looked it over. 

"Thank you," a deep voice behind you said, making you jump and scream. Ben came out from the dark hallway with a sorry smile. "Sorry..." he said, waiting for you to throw something at him. "You...you asshole!" You shouted with your hand covering your racing heart. "Jesus, you're not supposed to be home until tomorrow!"

He timidly approached you and said, "Yeah, we got done early. Thought I'd surprise you...or give you a heart attack." You shook your head with a small smile, then brought him in for a hug. "If you do that ever again, I will throw a pan at your head," you said in his ear. He nodded and said, "Noted."

He brought you in for a kiss, then said, "But, really...thank you. I heard what you told the kids." You smirked and said, "Well, we can't have them hating you forever. Lord knows I couldn't." He chuckled, then kissed you again. When he pulled away, he took the pizza menu from your hand and looked it over. 

"Did the kids say how their days were?" He asked as he was contemplating pepperoni or sausage. "You can ask them," you told him, "but we need to talk about Scar. She's calling her classmates "dumb" again." Ben rolled his eyes. "What are we going to do with her?" He grumbled. 

You shrugged, then said, "I might have an idea." He looked to you with a quirked eyebrow. "Why don't we put her in a different school? Somewhere she can be challenged." He seemed to like that idea. "Yeah...yeah, we could do that," he said. "The only schools like that around here are boarding schools, though. Are you sure you'd be okay with that?"

You hated the idea of your kids being gone six to seven months out of the year, but if this is what Scar needed to succeed..."Yeah," you told him, the unsureness evident in your voice. He gave you a knowing smirk. "When I mentioned Harrow for Nate and Conner, you nearly bit my head off," he reminded. 

Sighing, you told him, "Yeah, but...look, she needs this. She needs to be academically challenged and if that's what's going to help her, then..." You let out a strangled sigh. Ben gathered you into a tight hug and said, "I know the chairman of one of the top schools here. I'll give him a call tomorrow, see if we can still enroll her."

You didn't say anything, just nodded into his chest. He kissed your head, then let you go. "I'm going to go speak with the kids," he told you. "We'll tell Scar the news later."

**

"Walha...what?" Scar looked confused at the pamphlet Ben handed her. "Walhampton," Ben told her, "it's one of the top boarding schools in England. You'll be challenged there, you won't be smarter than everyone else." 

She looked sadly at you both and said, "But...but I like being the smarter one." You smiled as you said, "I know you do, but you don't want to stay in a class where you're ahead, but everyone else is behind. It's not good for you. This is only a suggestion, we're not telling you you have to go here."

She continued looking at the pamphlet and you could see a small smile appear on her lips. "This looks kinda fun," she admitted, "but it's too late. It already started." Ben took a seat next to her and said, "My friend is chairman of the school. He said that if we enroll you now...he would gladly accept you. Only thing is, you will have to live there for the school year. You'll come home for Christmas, New Years and any other breaks you may have, but you'll be there the rest of the time."

Now the gears were really turning in her head. "Um...okay, but...but if I don't like it...can I come home?" Ben put his arm around her and held her close. "Of course you can, baby. Just give it a few months though, yeah?" She looked to you, then to him. "Okay. I'll do it."